No flash, no flair in steady play of Aztecs linebacker Josh Gavert, just results

Aztecs at Fresno St.

Mike Fitch knows Josh Gavert won’t jump off the screen when he flips on the San Diego State game next week to watch the former Mayfair High product quarterback the Aztecs’ defense.

Gavert will make his reads, scrape and take on blockers and be in on most of the tackles without a whole lot of flair.

Then Gavert will get ready for the next play. Like clockwork.

Me-me? Rah-rah? Look somewhere else on the field for that.

“That’s not Josh; never has been,” Fitch said of the 2010 Mayfair grad. “He’s a journeyman. He studies the game. He knows where he’s supposed to line up. Everything about the guy is blue collar. He just works.”

Four years into Gavert’s career at San Diego State — including a redshirt season — that work is paying dividends.

With star middle linebacker Jake Fely lost for the season with a broken foot, the Aztecs have asked Gavert to fill a considerable void and the 6-foot-2, 220-pound junior has obliged with his typical workmanlike style.

Gavert has recorded 19 tackles — 10 solo — in two starts since Fely limped off the field last month at New Mexico State. Gavert has asserted himself as the long-term replacement in the middle of a defense facing a tall task next week against Fresno State’s high-powered offense. All told, the 21-year-old Gavert has collected 30 tackles — good for third on the team — to go with 3.5 tackles for losses, a sack, forced fumble and a 42-yard fumble recovery that set up a key touchdown in a 51-44 overtime win over Nevada two weeks ago.

“He’s doing a nice job,” Aztecs coach Rocky Long said. “He’s a pretty good athlete. He always knows what to do. There are no assignment errors.”

Just like Fitch advertised when San Diego State began courting his star linebacker.

Fitch, of course, knew he had a special player when he pulled Gavert up to varsity as a freshman for the team’s playoff run. He emerged as a starter the next year and capped a decorated career at Mayfair with a school-record 25 tackles in a single game as a senior.

The boxscore also will show that Gavert had an interception in that game, too. What it won’t show is that Gavert dropped 30 yards into coverage to make the pick after playing most of the game at the line of scrimmage against Norwalk’s double-wing offense.

“He’s always just had a good nose for the ball,” Fitch said. “Whenever you look, you always see him getting up off the pile and making tackles and doing his assignment. He’s always lined up correctly and doing what he’s supposed to do. He does it right.”

And that’s precisely what the Aztecs are counting on as they replace Fely — a second-team All-Mountain West defensive selection and San Diego State’s defensive MVP a year ago — with a career backup with just one start through his first two years of action.

Of course, Gavert still found a way to get to the ball in limited action last year as one of only two Aztecs with a forced fumble, fumble recovery and an interception, and his tireless work in practice, the weight room and in film room over the years is proving an asset now that he’s been thrown into a starting role.

“It’s been fun; I feel like I’m back in high school playing again,” Gavert said. “But you have to work for it and be ready when the time comes. I’ve just been working hard every day and my time came.